[agastache]

I made up a split last weekend and didnt shake in extra nurse bees. D'oh--the bees were feisty and I was working too fast. I plan to let them raise their own queen, and suspect they are going to need more nurses as time goes by. Nuc with split is moved away from mother colony. Whats the best way to get more nurse bees to the nuc? Carry a frame over to the nuc and shake them in? Carry the nuc to the mother colony and shake bees in and put nuc back where it came from? I dont know why I didnt stop to think of this before hand, but I live and learn.

 

[schmism]

You didnt say how far it is between the 2 hives.

1) i would avoid moving the nuc
2) you can carry a frame of nurse bees to the nuc and shake them and return the frame even if its several hundred feet.
3) if you want to shake several frames of nurse bees, you can always place them in a nuc and carry them over, shake them then return the frames to the org hive. Ive left hives open for 20+ min while doing and inspection.

I can not emphasis enough how important it ensure that the queen from your strong hive is NOT on the frames your going to shake into the nuc!

 

[agastache]

perfect, thanks. the nuc and the mothership are on opposite sides of my yard. didn't know if it would be bad for the brood on the frames to be shaken to be carried around. sounds like it shouldn't hurt them.

 

[JWChesnut]

Build up a nuc, carry it over and do a newspaper combine. The bees will move down (or up) to all be together. Pull off the now empty extra frames after 3-4 days.

 

[agastache]

ah I hadn't thought of that. thanks. sounds like a winner.

 

[Tenbears]

Just watch the hive for a few days, see how it progresses, If they are raising their own queen the nurse bees are not super important right now. when frames become empty, pull them and add a frame of capped brood close to emerging. now you have nice young nurse bees and vacant comb for the queen to lay in.